Shooting garment



' March 1K8, 1952 H. o. SMITH 2,589,636

SHOOTING GARMENT -Filed Dc. 29, 1949 yV/W Patented Mar. 18, 1952 SHOOTING GARMENT Howard O. Smith, Des Moines, Iowa Application December 29, 1949, Serial No. 135,560

Claims.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a shooting coat or jacket that is so padded and designed as to afford great comfort in use.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a shooting garment that is successfully padded against the usual discomfort experienced during shooting, While at the same time permitting free movement of the arms of the user at all times.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a padded shooting garment that is refined in appearance, durable in use, and economical in manufacture.

'I'hese and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

, Fig. 1 is a front view of my garment ready for use.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of my elbow pad on a shooting coat.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the elbow pad taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and more fully illustrates its construction.

Shooting garments are universally used by Sportsmen and are intended to provide comfort to the shooter and increase the accuracy of his shooting. Such garments usually have a pad element over each elbow portion. Such pads, however, are usually cumbersome, have bulky marginal edges and are covered with cloth or leather sheet material which quickly Wears Out and provides little if any ground or surface traction. I have overcome such objections by providing a pad that is thicker at its central area than at its marginal edge and has a rubber or like resilient and flexible covering.

Referring to the drawings, I have used the numeral I0 to designate the body portion of my garment. The actual design of this portion of the garment is not material, provided it is of proper fit. 'I'he important phases of my garment are the sleeves and padding. Both the left and right sleeves of the garment may be of the same general construction and in the drawings I show them as each made of three main sections, i. e., the upper arm section I I, the middle arm section I2, and the lower arm section I3. Each of these portions II, I2 and I3 is substantially cylindrical with the upper edge of the portion vII sewed to the arm pit of the body of the jacket and with its lower marginal edge sewed to the upper marginal edge of the portion I2. The lower marginal edge of the portion I2 is sewed to the upper marginal edge of the portion I3, as shown in Fig, 1. The free sides of these portions are secured together by the seam Ill. This seam I4 is not under the arm as in most coats, but is well up and to the front of the sleeve, as shown in Fig. 1. The length of the .back of each of the portions II, I2, and I3 is greater than their respective lengths at the front and at this seam and by and because of this construction the sleeves are not straight tubes, but are curved forwardly and downwardly, as shown in Fig. l, to better iit the bent arms of the shooter at the time the gun is at the shoulder position.

On the elbow portion of each section I2 I secure my elbow pad and which I will now describe in detail. The inside of each pad consists of two thick felt or like sheets I4 and I5 as shown in Fig. 3. The outer sheet pad I5 is of a dimension in all side directions less than the side dimensions of the under pad sheet III. As the sheet pad I5 is centrally located on the pad sheet I4, the central area of the completed pad will be twice as thick as at its margin edge portion. By this arrangement the finished pad will taper at its marginal edge portion and provide a substantially smooth blend toward and into the sleeve to which it is sewed or secured.

This means that there will be no objectionable shoulder edge to catch adjacent objects, while at the same time providing a central pad area of proper pad thickness. The numeral I6 designates a rubber or like cover sheet having dimensions substantially that of the pad Ill. The top or outer central surface of the resilient sheet I6 may be provided with serrations, projections or like II to aid the pad in gripping the ground, surface, oor or knee when in use for shooting prone or sitting. This rubber or like cover extends over both pad sheets I4 and I5 and is secured to the pad sheet I4 and by va strip binding I8 and sewing.

The entire pad may be secured by sewing, at the same time to the elbow portion ofthe sleeve section I2. The pad when so attached does not need overlap the seam of the sleeve. As the pad is preformed in a curved condition, it will embrace and t the elbow of the user. In this connection, I nd it best that the resilient sheet I6 be molded in a curved or convex shape before assembly. Another advantage of the rubber or like sheet cover is that it is impervious to water. This means that the padding I4 and I5 will be protected from absorbing moisture when shooting on wet or damp ground.

Some changes may be made in the construc- 3 tion and arrangement of my shooting garment without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

l. In combination with a sleeved shooting garment, an elbow pad secured to the exterior of at least onesleeve of said garment and said pad comprising; a first fabric pad member, a second fabric pad member; said rst fabric pad being similar in shape to and larger than said second fabric pad; said pads being arranged concentrically adjacent each other with said larger pad .adjacent'the elbow of the sleeve of said garment, and a cupped molded flexible resilient moisture impervious cover element having a rough eXterior; said cupped cover element and said first pad member having their perimeters stitched to gether and to the sleeve of said garment; whereby said cupped cover element holds said pads in a cupped elbow fitting shape.

2. In combination with a sleeved shooting garment, an elbow pad secured to the exterior of at least one sleeve ci' said garment and said pad comprising; a first relatively dense fabric pad member, a second relatively dense fabric pad member; said rst pad member being similar in shape to and larger than said second pad inember; said pads ybeing arranged concentrically adjacent each other with said larger pad adjacent the elbow of the sleeve of said garment, and a cupped molded flexible` resilient moisture impervious cover element having a rough exterior; said cupped cover element and said first pad member having their perimeters stitched together' and to the sleeve of said garment; whereby said cupped cover element holds said pads in a cupped elbow fitting shape.

3. In a shooting garment, an elbow pad secured to the exterior of at least one sleeve of said garment and said pad comprising; a first fabric pad, a second fabric pad; said first fabric pad being similar in sh-ape to and larger than said second fabric pad; said pads being arranged concen trically adjacent each other with said larger pad adjacent the elbow of the sleeve of said garment, a cupped molded flexible moisture impervious cover, and a means for securing said cover over said fabric pads and to the sleeve of said garment; said cover holding said fabric pads in an elbow tting shape.

4. In combination with a sleeved shooting garment, an elbow pad secured to the exterior of at least one sleeve of said garment and said pad comprising; a first relatively dense fabric pad member. a second relatively dense fabric pad member; said first pad member being similar in shape to and larger than said second pad member; said pad members being arranged concentrically adjacent each other with said larger pad member adjacent the elbow of the sleeve of said garment, a cupped molded flexible moisture impervious cover, and a means for securing said cover over said fabric pads and to the sleeve of said garment; said cover holding said fabric pad members in an elbow fitting shape.

5. In a sleeved shooting garment, an elbow protecting element secured to the exterior of at least one sleeve of said garment and comprising; a first fabric pad, a second fabric pad; said first fabric pad being similar in shape to and larger than said second fabric pad; said pads being arranged concentrically adjacent each other with said larger pad adjacent the elbow of the sleeve of said garment, a cupped molded flexible moisture impervious cover, and a binding strip engagingthe edges of said cover element and said larger pad through which binding and edges stitching is passed to secure said larger pad and said cover to the sleeve ofk said garment; whereby a smooth edge is provided for said elbow protecting element and the stitching bears on the binding material to hold the cover element in place and spreads the pressure of the stitching on said resilient cover over a relatively Wide area.

HOWARD O. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Prager May 16, 1950 

